Matrugoda - The Mother‘s Lap

Anger Workshop | Fear Workshop | Peace and Calm Workshop

A Spiritual Community

A seed of aspiration has been sown in our hearts and in our consciousnesses to create a community in the UK which is based on the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. This community shall be known as “Matrugoda” ( Matru - Mother, goda - lap ).

We aspire for the Divine Grace to create a spiritually-charged environment for a harmonious life where we can grow individually and collectively into the Light.

According to The Mother, “The first necessity is the inner discovery in order to know what one truly is behind social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary appearances. At the centre there is a being free, vast and knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the active centre of our being.”

It will be a community where like-minded people can live together to enhance their sadhana by carrying out daily activities in the Higher Consciousness. As The Mother has said, “It is not what you do that matters, but the way you do it and the consciousness you put into it. Remember the Divine unceasingly, and all that you do will express the Divine Presence. When you consecrate all your actions to the Divine, there will no longer be any higher or lower activities, all will have an equal importance: that conferred on them by the consecration.”

We began this adventure concretely on 1st January 2000 by each offering a £1 coin which had been placed at a place of worship since 24th November 1999, as a token of aspiration to create a community of like-minded people. This offering was placed into a pouch made from one of The Mother’s saris which itself was laid at the feet of The Mother for Her Guidance and Grace. We feel that She has accepted this offering into Her lap and that She will lead us in our efforts.

Before Matrugoda can physically manifest, we seek to transform the mental, vital and physical parts of our beings for a life centred around our true psychic being. The importance of engaging in this work collectively is to create an atmosphere and momentum for spiritual progress that exceeds what could be achieved by one individual.

In this endeavour, we are trying consciously to widen and develop our knowledge by sharing our experiences. We have therefore set up monthly workshops to address the aspects of our nature that we aspire to transform. Our underlying aim is to live according to the example and teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

These workshops are held on the every first and third Sunday of each month, from 11:30am to 1:00pm. After recognising that we want to transform and change a certain aspect of our nature and behaviour, we read and reflect on the Guidance given to us by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on this aspect and endeavour to learn how to make this change. We attempt to put this Guidance into practice and we share the experiences from our attempts.